Political Quotes

“I rise this morning to continue the debate and discussion on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Let me underscore the point that Majority Leader Reid and others have made. I listened carefully to the comments of Senator McConnell, the distinguished Republican leader. I have served in this body for more than a quarter of a century now, and it is unfortunate that we seem to have come to a point where not as much is happening as should be happening, in my view. I brought committee products to the floor on many occasions, and I am sort of envious of the remarks of the Senator from Kentucky--because as a committee chairman, I love nothing more than to bring a product out of my committee. Many times I brought them out with unanimous votes, only to have to spend days here on the floor as amendment after amendment was being offered to change, in some cases dramatically, the substance of our bill, which we had worked on for weeks and months and years in some cases. So it is a new idea here to just accept committee product and say the other 90 or 85 Members should respect the work of our colleagues, and acknowledge that and pass the legislation as if we had all had some input here. That is unique and, I suppose, an idea that most of us would like to embrace at one point or another. But this is the Senate. This is not an operation that runs by fiat. This institution has an historic responsibility.…”